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Talk:Lieutenant Kestal/@comment-44958542-20200209024405/@comment-454133-20200209053114
Kestal isn't modifying the dice twice -- it'd be tough to give her two focus tokens to spend. This is actually a problem for her -- she's torn between spending the focus on her attack dice, the defenders defense dice, her own defense dice, etc, and her strange action bar and lack of a crew slot for Perceptive Copilot etc doesn't help. Yes, a TIE Aggressor with Veteran Turret Gunner can attack twice per round. This creates more opportunities for the luck to round out and push damage through onto the enemy, even if you can't have enough tokens to modify both shots. And their tokens are limited too. A Sienar Specialist with Dorsal Turret and VTG is 39 points, while a Y-Wing (Rebel or Scum) doing the same thing with 8 health and 1 agility instead of 5 health and 2, and a worse dial, costs 4 points more. Upgrading to an ion turret adds a control element to your threat level. The problem is the price of VTG went up a lot because of the double-tap Y-Wing lists using it so well. And Kestal, despite being one of my favorite pilots, is a bit pricey for what she can pull off. The TIE/ag's main problem is trying to dig out a niche with its awkward setup; it's a strange bird, and everyone else covers its various roles in slighly better ways. Its linked action is Roll->Evade instead of focus or lock for its special weapon attacks, which hurts its munitions options a lot. Their highest pilot skill is 4 in a faction that likes its aces. Other factions seem to have more fun with turrets, for various reasons. Its own faction has the TIE/sa Bomber for Barrage Rocket or other munition spam, plus the option of really effective bomb/mine use. Other Empire missile users use the single-slot missiles better (e.g. aces are better at getting a lock, Inquisitors and other force users have natural double mods, etc), or can equip torpedoes which are usually priced a bit better for their bang. And the Empire isn't crying out for turret users, despite there only being the TIE/ag and Decimator, because they have so many other list archetypes that work so well. However, most of these problems only really arise in top-meta play. If you're going against the strongest tournament lists, the TIE/ag gets muscled out pretty quickly. But when you're playing more casual games -- this is the level I like to play at BTW -- your options open up a ton and the TIE/ag gets some fun little niches for itself. It's the cheapest munitions user in the faction by 1 point (which may save you some crucial points), and the only empire ship with a turret slot, giving it some handy arc coverage that TIE Bombers lack. Barrage Rockets are a decent munition at this level of play, especially combined with Captain Jonus. Debris Gambit makes their linked evade action white much of the time (white barrel roll -> white evade), which is a nifty gimmick for better defense while still getting repositions in an asteroid belt. And I particularly like Kestal, who acts as an anti-token, anti-force hunter. She robs her opponent of the results they would modify with their force and tokens, which is delicious against opponents that rely on defense mods to live. The trick is knowing when to hold onto that focus token to use on the defender's dice, and hoping they roll results you can cancel usefully (instead of natural evades). Also she's a middle initative so positioning her to hunt ships like Vader, Luke, etc may be tough. Here's a list you might enjoy; it's one of my favorites. Ruthless helps a lot with modifying attacks and pushing damage through, among the other dice mods throughout the list. Vermeil is a great pilot with a solid ability, plus coordinate for when it's needed. If you don't have the ships, you can swap things in that you do have and keep a similar idea (for example, replace Vermeil Darth Vader pilot, optionally with Hate so that damaging him with Ruthless recharges his force, or other shenanigans; or just having lots of TIEs around for ruthless). Ruth Stayed Home * Kestal with Ruthless + Ion Cannon Turret + Barrage Rockets (45) * Major Vermeil with Ruthless + Darth Vader + Shield Upgrade (68) * Rear Admiral Chiraneau with Ruthless + Minister Tua + Shield Upgrade (87) 200 points